Zook Family Updates - April

Here are some things that have been going on with the Zook's:

- everyone's been sick with upper respiratory infections and has been on at least 1 round of antibiotics :-(

- Natalie has had 3 ear infections (and 3 rounds of antibiotics) in the last 3 months and when we went for her checkup last Friday, her ears were still infected!!......so we did 3 rounds of shots. It was sooooooooo sad to watch her get them (1 in each leg) Friday, Saturday and Monday. Thankfully, the shots had a numbing agent so as soon as i picked her up, she stopped crying. So far, it looks like this last round is doing the trick. I hope so, because if it doesn't we will likely be talking about tubes again.

- we are going on our first family vacation soon - and I CANNOT WAIT!!! we planned it around matt's scheduled days off and will be flying down to San Antonio to go to the Zoo and the Riverwalk. Our hotel is on the Riverwalk so that will make it convenient and hopefully we'll have a lot of fun. I'm sure you'll see pics from our vacation soon.

- Since we've been going to see the doctor a lot, i also thought i'd mention that Natalie's weight (with clothes on) is 19lbs!!! She has been feeling so heavy to pick up lately and now i know why! Also, it seemed like she gained weight overnight so it's likely a combination of too much food and a growth spurt. When we go to her 9 month check up in May, I'll post her stats.

- Here is the solid food she is eating: applesauce(organic/store bought) and pear sauce(organic/homemade), yogurts (YoBaby brand), sweet potatoes with cinnamon(homemade), squash, (organic/homemade), mixed veggies & carrots(both organic/homemade) but they have to be mixed with applesauce or pear - otherwise she gags, rice and oatmeal cereals, green beans, peas (both organic store bought), bananas, mango, avocado, biter biscuits, puffs, and cheerios.

- she has fruit/cereal for breakfast, veggies/cereal for lunch and veggies/cereal/fruit at dinner. she was having 8 oz of bottle at 7am,11am,3pm,7pm but I've reduced that down to 6oz. I try to keep these amounts as a general rule, but i mostly watch her cues to let me know when she needs more/less.

- we're still working on the sippy cup, she's not a fan on the cup yet. she is holding her own bottle (most of the time)

- her bedtime is typically 8pm now. we use to take a bath and then read but she's currently terrified of the bathtub although we're not sure why. when she was on the last antibiotic, it made her bottom very tender and she had a bad bathing experience one night. I'm thinking that this is the cause of the problem and haven't quite figured out what to do. for now, we are doing sponge baths in the sink most nights. i always end her day with reading "The Going to Bed Book", "Are you my Mother" and "The Wonderful Sounds Mr.Brown can do"

- she is teething and we have the spotting of her first tooth. unfortunately for her, it is coming in VERY slowly. the tip of it has been exposed for about 2 weeks now - i hope for her sake it comes thru soon (but not during our vacation) :-0

- in the last week or so she is showing extreme separation anxiety for mommy. while i enjoy that she wants me, it makes dropping her off at daycare or visiting her at lunch much harder. her teachers are great and will take her from me so we can wave bye and then get her distracted once i leave. i sometimes sneak a peak at her after i leave and thankfully, she's fine. unfortunately, she is also showing separation anxiety at home when matt is holding her and i am in the same room. she cries for me and it makes it hard for matt to spend time with her. i've had to leave the room now several times so that she can focus on daddy time. Hopefully, she will outgrow this soon so that Matt and I can enjoy spending time together with her.

- she is doing a great job crawling and is pulling up on everything (especially my legs!). she even stood for 2-3 seconds by herself this weekend - it shocked me- unfortunately no one else saw it. matt did she her wrestled a baby almost twice her size to get a toy she wanted and I found out today that she was diving out of the baby play pen at daycare. she's definitely "fearless" - I think she gets this from Grandpa Cadden!

- she is not talking as much (due to her ear infections) but is very good at saying dada and mama. i have found that when matt spends time with her in the mornings, she talks a lot more on the drive to work.